Mon, 11/21/2022 - 12:40pm Athens David Kieber Chemistry SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry Dr. Kieber Website Seminars Please join us on Monday November 21 at 12:40 pm for the UGA Department of Marine Sciences seminar. Dr. Dave Kieber, an emeritus professor at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, will present his work entitled Acrylate: The Missing Carbon in the Marine Organosulfur Cycle. If anyone would like to meet with the speaker after the talk, please email Dr. Miller to set up a meeting (bmiller@uga.edu). Here is an abstract for his research talk: Acrylate, a small three carbon compound, is a largely overlooked product of the enzymatic cleavage of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) mediated by DMSP lyases, to produce equimolar amounts of dimethylsulfide (DMS) and acrylate. This process is widespread in marine phytoplankton, heterotrophic bacteria, and coral. The conversion of DMSP to DMS and their cycling in seawater have received considerable attention owing to the proposed importance of DMS in climate regulation. In contrast, very little is known about acrylate concentrations, fluxes, or impacts in the oceans, even though its concentrations and fluxes should at times be substantial, especially in shallow-water coral reefs or during blooms of DMSP-rich phytoplankton that are common throughout the world's oceans and often harmful or toxic. Unlike DMSP or other small organic acids, such as acetic acid, acrylate undergoes a plethora of facile reactions with itself and other molecules. Owing to its unusual reactivity, acrylate has been long used in industry as a polymerizing agent to convert small molecules into much larger polymers that are of synthetic value (e.g., carpet fibers). Not surprisingly there is evidence for acrylate’s polymerizing role in marine ecological settings as well. My presentation with focus on several aspects of this reactive component of marine dissolved organic matter to highlight its impacts on the carbon cycle and ecology of the upper ocean. The Zoom link for those of you joining from your computers will be https://zoom.us/j/97461643834. Marine Sciences Room 239 and the Skidaway Auditorium will have a live feed of the talk. The room will be open at 12:20 pm, and the talk will begin at 12:40 pm. Our complete schedule of talks this semester is listed on the calendar: https://bit.ly/UGA-MarSci-Sched-Share
